Save Money! Create Your Own Logo For Your Business

Before beginning to sketch a logo a foundation must be established. It is important to have an understanding and knowledge of the business or industry by interviewing industry experts. Ask business and marketing questions; establish color preferences, symbol preferences, and font preferences. The questions should be short and direct to minimize miscommunication issues. Open communication and close, personal attention with a client is vital.

Select a decorative element or treatment that becomes the anchor both visually and conceptually. Remember Me Stone Co. chose a ribbon to wrap around the logo as the decorative element. Conceptually the ribbon is symbolic of ‘memories’ that flow indefinitely, helping to describe the uniqueness of the product, hence, the slogan ‘Memories Should Last Forever…’ The decorative element plays the most vital role and should be the first element of the logo to be developed. Many sketches of the ribbon were developed to determine the effectiveness of many different shapes and how well the shapes would integrate with the other elements of the logo.

Font specification is an extremely integral part of logo development. Font choices are endless and can even be modified to make them as unique as the specific business or product. There are two important aspects of a font that should be considered in the selection process. 1.) The style or character of the font and the message the font is sending to the reader. 2.) Legibility of the font at small point sizes should be considered. When the size of the font needs to be reduced down to fit on a business card, it should still be legible. The font ‘Papyrus’ selected for Remember Me Stone Co. is natural, airy and earthy, but still bold enough and legible when reduced down to 8 point, or even 7 point, to fit on a 3.5 in. x 2 in. business card.

Selecting colors for a logo is extremely important. Many criteria should be considered. First and foremost, a printing budget needs to be established. A one-color logo is going to be more cost effective than a 2, 3, or full color logo. Color palettes are crucial. The color/colors selected from a color wheel set the mood, tone and theme of the logo both theoretically and psychologically. There are many emotions associated with different colors as well as contrasts between colors. The color/colors selected should help create a message about your business or product. One target market for Remember Me Stone Co. is the bereaved and grieving. The blue color was selected for its calming, soothing effect on the reader and was contrasted with the warmth of yellow/green, which creates a bold, yet serene color palette.

Now the refinement stage begins: Details of the symbols are perfected, overall composition is evaluated, alternate fonts may be explored or font adjusting will take place, such as spacing between words and letters, color balances may be adjusted, other elements may be added at this point to create a unified look between the fonts and symbols. Remember Me Stone Co. chose to add a photo of black polished stones to add interest to optional 4-color process printing. The logo can be produced with or without the image of the stones.

By: Andrea hilgendorf

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Andrea Hilgendorf has been a Graphic Designer for 15 years,and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Wayne State University,in Detroit Michigan and is now the Owner and Executive Director of Marketing for Remember Me Stone Company. Here You can visit the Company's website www.remembermestones.com